Monday, February 25, 2013

Rendon makes the most of opportunity

USA Today Sports Images file photo

Anthony Rendon clubbed a two-run homer during yesterday's game.

VIERA, Fla. -- When a sudden and intense storm hit Space Coast Stadium during the fourth inning of yesterday's game, prompting a 1-hour, 6-minute delay, pretty much everyone in the Nationals starting lineup understood his workday had just ended.

Anthony Rendon, on the other hand, in no way wanted to be pulled out of the game, delay or not. He wanted another chance to hit, so he hoped Davey Johnson would forget to bench him like everyone else in the lineup.

"We kind of made eye contact, and I was kind of watching him walk around the dugout, telling everybody to sit down," the 22-year-old prospect said. "I was just sitting quiet, making sure he might not see me. And he looks at me and goes: 'You'll get another at-bat.'"

Good thing Johnson let Rendon step to the plate again, because one inning later the kid whacked a two-run homer to right-center, producing the Nationals' only two runs of the game against the Marlins.

"He certainly made it count," Johnson said.

It's early, but Rendon has made a lot count this spring. Healthy at last after a string of shoulder and ankle injuries hindered him in college and in his first season as a pro, he's flashing advanced offensive skills, showing he can hit for power to the opposite field and proving quite adept in the field.

Perhaps the defensive highlight of yesterday's game was Rendon's third-inning play at third base, when he came charging in to snag Chone Figgins' bunt barehanded and then fired a strike to first base to nab Miami's speedy leadoff hitter.

Most third basemen -- Ryan Zimmerman immediately comes to mind -- will make that throw side-armed. Rendon, though, makes it overhand, an impressive sight in itself.

"I've gotten in trouble in the past when I go low on the ball," he said. "It tails more than usual, so I've been told to try to get on top of it a little more."

With Zimmerman obviously entrenched in D.C. for the rest of the decade, Rendon's best chance of contributing to the Nationals will probably come at another position. Johnson would like him to get at-bats this season at both shortstop and second base, and yesterday morning the former second-sacker took his young protege out to the infield behind the stadium to work on some footwork fundamentals.

That was, after Rendon mistakenly showed up for class Saturday evening after the Nationals' Grapefruit League opener in Port St. Lucie and a 90-minute bus ride back to Viera.

After that game, Johnson told the first-round draft pick to meet him on that practice infield "when we're home." The manager meant when the Nationals were at home the following day. Rendon thought he meant as soon as the team bus returned from that day's game, even though that sounded a bit odd and the idea of holding the session the next morning made more sense.

"That's what I figured," Rendon said. "But I was like, 'I don't know. This dude seemed kind of adamant about getting it in. He might want to do it after the game.'"

So Rendon walked over to the coaches' locker room and asked bench coach Randy Knorr if Johnson was there. Knorr gave him a flabbergasted look and informed the kid his manager had long since left.

"It was kind of funny," Johnson said.

The two finally connected yesterday morning and enjoyed a one-on-one session on second base mechanics, though Johnson was impressed Rendon already had much of it down.

"He did great," the manager said. "His footwork around the bag at second was better than I thought it was going to be."

Johnson said he hopes to use Rendon in a game at second base sometime later in camp, and he could see action around the infield at Class AA Harrisburg.

After that, Rendon's future depends on only two things: 1) His ability to stay healthy, and 2) The Nationals' ability to find someplace on the field to play him.

I'm missing some logic here, Sunshine. If Zim is injury-prone because he's out of shape, what does that say about Rendon's injury history and training regimen?

IMO, Zim is often injured because he, like the boy-Phenom, plays all out, including a flip on home plate that probably did serious damage to his shoulder. Even Werth, who is careful to the point of being "wall-shy" broke his wrist on a play he's made thousands of times.

That's not to say RZ doesn't need to lose a few pounds. But that's what "spring training" is for.

I watched Rendon hit in the cage at Viera last week and he does have a sweet swing. Zim looked to me like he always does, but I also didn't think Chad Tracey didn't look too bad either, so take that for what it's worth.

And PERHAPS it's the Shirt Zim is wearing or the angle at which the photo was taken. GEESH. Remember the Jeter is Fat Photo from the NY papers? Jeter look fat to anyone? Let's see the guy in his uniform before you crown him fat and out of shape.

And before anyone crowns Rendon the new FOF, lets see him play a full season healthy. (and I do love that sweet swing, so Espi watch out, b/c your's is the place that is shakiest on the team)

This article on the M's mismanagement of Michael Morse is really blunt and interesting. Shows the importance of having a clear path for development of talented players, and not letting aging veterans (no matter how expensive) block their way.

As far as Rendon, Espi, RZim, the pitchers, etc, its waaaay too early to be making any conclusions except on mechanics and approach.

All I know about Rendon is what I have been saying since I first saw him play is that he has the ability to barrel up balls anywhere in the zone. I have compared him to being a Placido Polanco type in contact and the positions he can play. I haven't changed my opinion but he has to stay healthy. Sure, he hit a HR but he's not a power hitter. He's going to earn his stripes barreling up line drives in gaps and controlling a high OBP.

Davey will be personally working with Anthony on working the 2nd base bag. They need him ready to be available if any infielder (except 1st base) goes on the DL. He won't play SS but if Desi went on the DL then Rendon could take over at 2nd with Espi sliding over to SS. Again, Lombo may be the guy that steps in. Maybe Rendon isn't seen until a September call-up. One Spring game hasn't changed much but I have been super excited about Rendon since the day he was drafted.

Ghost, absolutely too early. That's why even though I graded Bray an F for Saturday, I feel he has time to work on his mechanics and his fielding. The baby outfielders (Perez and C. Brown) have made a few mistakes out there, too.

IMO, the only pitchers that should be in competitive shape right now are Detwiler and Gio--because they will be in the WBC and you want them not to pull a hammy or something.

BTW, Bernadina tweeted that he made it to Taiwan after a 20-hour flight and the first thing they did was make him take PR photos.

I don't think we need to worry about Rendon being blocked just yet. Firstly he must put together a healthy productive season at the AA level and maybe just maybe we can discuss him for September. At the end of this year ALR will only have 1 year left on his contract so the Zim to 1st can become a topic for consideration once again.

I think Lombo is a super sub whose bat only plays at 2nd base really. I think the comparison between Rendon and Polanco has some merit but I really think Rendon at 2nd is a recipe for injury.

NatsLady said... Ghost, absolutely too early. That's why even though I graded Bray an F for Saturday, I feel he has time to work on his mechanics and his fielding. The baby outfielders (Perez and C. Brown) have made a few mistakes out there, too.

Bray faced a AAA lineup and did what he did and fell asleep covering 1st but its clearly early and is definitely a F for that effort.

JD, we agree. I say Rendon has to "dominate" although Davey may already know what he knows just like he did with Bryce and dominating at AA isn't what he needs to see. I'd like to see dominance along with staying healthy of course.

Staying healthy at 2nd is watching a Darwin Barney video as he did a nice piece for MLB Network. Barney is smaller than Rendon by at least 2 inches and he worked hard at sidestepping and clearing out of harm's way or athletically jump stepping over a slide. There is certainly an art to it and if Rendon is deemed ready to play 2nd he better master it.

It sounds like JZim did shine in his 3 innings. Yes, it was like facing a split squad roster (no Stanton) but he was painting the corners and inducing weak contact.

I found it interesting reading Mark's synopsis on what JZim was throwing and I also wonder if he was throwing a sinker.

I didn't think Jordan threw a 2 seam but according to the official Brooks Baseball he threw some last year but Brooks goes off of movement and speed to differentiate between 2 seam and 4 seam fastballs as they don't ask the pitcher what he was throwing and I see Gonat covered the point that JZim had 50 sinkers credited for the entire season which is the equivalent of throwing only 1 to 2 sinkers a start in 32 appearances.

If JZim was throwing sinker(s) yesterday, then that would be a big deal. Also, if he was throwing multiple changeups yesterday, that's a big deal since he only threw 1 changeup per 48 pitches last year and threw exactly 48 pitches yesterday.

JZim really has the ability to dominate if he can perfect this changeup. If he added a + 2 seamer, that would give him 5 pitches potentially.

Strasburg's best "whiff" pitch is his changeup by a large margin. In a 2 strike count, Strasburg has struck out 56.4% of all batters on a changeup on the last pitch in that at-bat compared to 26.5% on his 4 seam fastball.

Ghost your discussion and stats research reminds me about something that the noted baseball sage and expert Bryce Aron Max Harper was quoted as saying last year about the changeup.

Essentially, Mr. Harper stated that the changeup was the most significant pitch currently in a pitcher's arsenal---particularly if you are a LH hitter. A guy named Clippard seems to reinforce this theory.

As a supplement to my "Lefties for sale" I'm also researching what it would mean use Clip as a "LOOGY." He has one of the higher pitch count/inning on the team, but it's turning out to be hard to break that down as to whether his pitch count/inning is higher for righties or lefties. IOW, does he need less effort to get lefties out? If he's going to engage in those 14-pitch battles to get one hitter out, it's not saving him much because you have to factor in the warm-ups.

I think we're agreed that care needs to be taken with Clip's shoulder and his exhaustion level, but one of the points Showalter emphasizes in his bullpen management is you don't want a pitcher to warm up more than once in a game. I think the same reasoning is behind Davey's emphasis on "roles," so guys know when they will be pitching and can start loosening up and projecting the hitters they will face in the line-up. It will be interesting to see if Davey can accomplish the A-bullpen/B-bullpen concept this year.

Ghost Of Steve M. said... Sec. 3, My Sofa said... But getting back to Rendon--is it just the angle of the photo, or is he using a 34 inch bat there?----------- If you can measure his bat as a 34 from a photo, you have a real talent.

It's a skill, guessing the length, esp. when there's one hand over the knob.

Doc said... Ghost your discussion and stats research reminds me about something that the noted baseball sage and expert Bryce Aron Max Harper was quoted as saying last year about the changeup.

Essentially, Mr. Harper stated that the changeup was the most significant pitch currently in a pitcher's arsenal---particularly if you are a LH hitter. A guy named Clippard seems to reinforce this theory.

When Harper speaks, Nats fans listen!

February 25, 2013 11:58 AM

Thanks. It's fascinating on that whole "art of deception" as to pitching that if you can drop your fastball to changeup 7.5% or more in speed from the same arm slot and delivery that it's a devestating pitch as the batter is thinking fastball and swings & misses.

By the way, JZim went into Spring Training last year throwing a new changeup and abandoned it.

Strasburg doesn't throw a slider but he throws 4 pitches that are all excellent 4 seam, 2 seam, curveball, changeup.

I generally put it down to pilverage--somebody getting their hands in the till.

Anyway, if I did that right (turned it 45° through both the y and z axes, and figured the knob was in the middle of his lower hand), then I was way underestimating the foreshortening, and that's nowhere near as big as it looks.

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About the Author

Mark Zuckerman has covered the Nationals since the franchise arrived in D.C. He's been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2001 and is a Hall of Fame voter. Email mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com.